The Trial
by 9shadowcat9
Summary: Sequel to The Game After the reveal in The Game the companions hold a meeting to decide what to do with the Inquisitor. Oneshot


In the end it was Varric who told Cassandra. It was almost an unspoken agreement. Varric was closest to the Seeker so when they returned to Skyhold he pulled her to the side. Evelyn had been silent since the fight, only saying apologies for running with a bright smile. She'd stolen a shield from the hands of a long dead corpse to replace her dented one and returned to the mission quietly. She denied even rambling which was enough to cause major alarm for the trio. She probably hadn't even realised how badly her mask had been destroyed, her effortless deflections now just making her seem small and emotionally drained. Even her smile was fragile.

They'd freed the people in the Quarry, Evelyn not even pausing to tell them not to thank her. She'd just kept looking for more Templars to kill. Dorians attempts to give her a staff had been ignored. "I have a sword and shield." She muttered walking past. Varric had to talk her down from doing another mission immediately afterwards. A woman had asked for help finding a ring. A small pointless and time waster of a mission. Evelyn had asked her for where it had last been seen and had almost ran off to retrieve it when the dwarf stopped her. The warrior needed to go back to Skyhold. They needed to talk, he added calmly when she had tried to argue.

The woman had paled like a sheet and he'd kept talking to stop her passing out. Iron Bull had positioned himself to catch her if she'd tried to run again. She knew it was over, she had to. No one played The Game for as long as Evelyn did and didn't learn when to fold. So she'd nodded and returned to Skyhold under guard from her inner circle. Which was when Varric had told Cassandra.

A mage. Evelyn, the person who'd argued against magic, was a mage. This would have been the perfect plot for a book if it wasn't so harrowing. Because she'd gone out of her way to distance herself from everything. And odds were if they'd defeated Corypheus she would have disappeared as soon as she was able. Even now he had another part of the puzzle he still couldn't understand why she'd done it. The Circles were gone. Shattered, the mages were up in arms against them. The Templars were equally gone, in fact more so since she'd chosen the mages.

She had no need to worry about the circles which made the mad ramblings make no sense. So he'd gone to Cassandra with the problem because now? Everything about Evelyn had been called into question. Iron Bull had pointedly refused to leave the noble alone when leaving Emprise du Lion, making the woman's face fall so utterly Varric had realised she couldn't be left alone for her own safety. Dorian's suddenly paled face showed he'd realised as well. After that Evelyn had stopped making false reassurances and just remained silent.

Cassandra had called a meeting as soon as Varric had finished the tale and had insisted Fiona attend as head of the Mage Rebellions. The inner circle and the advisors all had to attend. And they had all come because if Cassandra had called it? It was serious. With Evelyn no longer in a position of trust Cassandra was now the leader of the Inquisition. They'd quickly set up the war room for the meeting (Ha, it was a trial with a different name.) Evelyn was led in by Iron Bull, still in her clothes from the trip. And that was alarming to everyone who hadn't heard about what had happened.

Evelyn was a typical noblewoman. When not on mission she insisted on frequently changing her clothes, sometimes more than once a day. And she never wore mission clothes in Skyhold. Her hair was unwashed and her face still had dirt on it, but the bruise covering part of her face was still showing. The woman took her seat at the front of the room quietly, folding her hands on her lap as she slouched eyes on the ground. The picture of a defeated woman.

"Darling, what have you done?" Vivienne whispered. Evelyn's face never changed even as Iron Bull stood next to her chair as a guard. Cassandra stood in the front of the room as everyone sat down. Josephine sat ready to make notes on the meeting and Leliana was in Spymaster mode, eyes trained on Evelyn as they waited.

"Over, it's over. No longer whole, dirty. Better Tranquil they laughed. Better off dead." Cole muttered leaving his chair to take Evelyn's hand. "No one blames you." He whispered. Evelyn sniffed before looking at him.

"No one asked you, spirit." She hissed. Cole didn't look sad as she took back her hand.

"But no one blames you. Reputation destroyed, family sad as she turns up at the door. Lies upon lies until smiling and broken."

"I said no one asked!" Evelyn snapped. Cole frowned.

"But I'm trying to help." He insisted, unaware of the stillness of the room. All he knew was that this was the first time he'd managed to corner her to help her. "This usually works."

"Cole." Cassandra urged. The spirit sat down still muttering about trying to help until Solas whispered something to him quietly. After that the spirit of compassion sat quietly, even if he did look confused. Evelyn sat back and looked at the gathered crowd before sighing quietly.

"Just say it Cassandra." The noble finally muttered.

"Varric." The Seeker said, ignoring Evelyn.

And Varric told the story, how Iron Bull had been knocked down in the battle and the flames that had appeared as he'd tried to help Iron Bull. How he'd assumed Dorian had retrieved his staff until the battle was done and he'd realised Dorian was concussed to badly to cast. The staff was abandoned in the snow and Evelyn had retrieved her sword at some point. But there had only been one way the flames were cast. "So I asked her if she was a mage." He'd finished. And instantly the room was full of whispering as Evelyn continued to look at the ground. Vivienne silently watched her. Evelyn just kept looking at the ground.

"And she began rambling, hell begging to not be returned to the Circle." Varric said loudly over the talking. Fiona stood when the talking had stopped.

"Is it true?" She asked. Evelyn shook her head quietly, a final lie.

"It's true." Iron Bull looked almost disappointed at the attempt as deception. And Fiona's face snarled in anger when Evelyn didn't argue with him.

"You conscripted us! Argued against our freedom at every turn! Advocated _**for**_ the return of the circle! And now you beg to not return?" Fiona snapped. "You never once defended the mages, loyal or rebellion!"

"And you used me for that!" Dorian broke in. Everyone looked at him. "She used me as an example for why the circles were a 'good idea'" He added realising most people hadn't heard that rumour. Or maybe missed the implications. "She's been manipulating all the rumours since we arrived in Skyhold. Quite effectively at that. It's actually amazing what she managed." He finished with a bitter flourish. "She managed to get me kicked out of the library. Me! The mages wouldn't even speak to me after that." Evelyn still had the good grace to at least look embarrassed, as did Fiona. The rebellion leader had been the one to ask him to leave.

"Well, that explains you moving to the tavern." Someone muttered. Probably Sera.

"I have had no books to read in weeks! I had to ask someone to go in and get me a book and what do they get? The Melifica Imperio! Propaganda!" He added in perfect despair. Yeah, Evelyn was shrinking in her seat in what seemed to be an attempt to hide. Iron Bull had to grab her shoulder to stop her falling off the seat entirely.

"I'll… talk to everyone else…" Fiona said apologetically. Dorian continued to bemoan his lack of books as if he didn't notice until Cassandra coughed loudly, stopping his tirade. The Tevinter mage shut up quickly.

"Evelyn. Do you have anything to say?" In a way Cassandra hoped she would remain silent. It had been the Seeker's jobs to watch the Templars and prevent this abuse. How bad had the circles been that being outed as a mage caused this much of a defeat in the noble…? Evelyn looked up thinking quietly.

It was all over anyway, why not?

So she told the story quietly, not looking at Vivienne's disappointed face or the bitter hatred on Fiona.

How she had been raised in the Game. Every action monitored by her family, as the youngest and only daughter of four they were adept at spotting disobedience. Her eldest brother helped them in making sure she toed the line. The perfect noble daughter. Quiet and obedient, not a hair out of place and her clothes perfect. Tutors every day in everything until she could argue in circles and neither confirm nor deny any statement made. That wasn't her role as a wife, it was her husbands. Perfect and quiet and obedient. And then she snapped at a meal and summoned fire without her smile never leaving her lips.

And then she was sent to a circle away from Orlais at the behest of her parents. Sent to her Aunt her mother told everyone dabbing her eyes, the perfect noble mother. It was so _sad_.

The circle was a prison. A child to a teenager trapped in that building, the Templars watching at every corner. The Game worked inside that tower just as it did outside, twisted in on itself until it was barely recognisable. After all, they were never leaving. So the teenagers smiled at each other and helped each other while sharpening their knives quietly. They weren't friendships, they were alliances. They singled out the weak mages and the Templars took them instead of the others. Soon the singled-out ones were deemed dangerous. 'Frequently acted out' The Templars said shaking their heads sadly. 'Far too dangerous to be allowed to attend a harrowing'. So the crowd and alliances thinned out until only a few were left.

The Templars only went for Tranquil and those who hadn't had a harrowing. Easier to control. There were always more Templars then mages because of that policy. The isolated teenagers had learned not to question or cry out for help. Evelyn paused and Cole broke in again. "To dangerous. Better off Tranquil. Anything but that! Hands everywhere. Laughter." And Vivienne's face fell because the horror stories the mages had told had never seemed all that common. One off tales that were repeated for pity. Fiona merely looked resigned, she'd heard enough stories from the different circles. Evelyn kept talking.

The rebellions had come after her harrowing. The Mages had killed the Templars and left a burning building behind, and with it the stories of betrayal. 'We were trying to survive' sounds so hollow when defending yourself, a pleasant lie. So she'd returned home a grown mage with no staff. Her mother had welcomed her home with joy about how she was relieved to hear her Aunt in the Free Marches was no longer ill and sent her to bed like nothing had happened before returning to her guests. And when they were alone, quiet warnings about never revealing her past. Because it was shameful to be a Mage in the game. No one would want a mage for a spouse.

So she'd returned to the parties wearing a mask to hide how broken she was until only the Game was left in her. She danced at the parties and gossiped with the Ladies. Making herself again by removing her past. She was a dutiful daughter seeking a spouse to empower her family. She'd spent years helping her Aunt recover from her illness. Her lies twisted around her until she didn't know the truth from the fiction. She delved into sword training with her brothers and soon she was no longer defenceless. Words were a power she'd always known, her smile perfected in that prison. She was welcomed back with open arms and hidden knives.

Soon the Mage and Templar war was paused and her brother Maxwell had heard of a summit for peace. How she'd begged to go. An end to the prisons, to the abuses was in sight. A chance to stop the nightmares and ghost touches. And Maxwell, the second youngest son died. The pride of the Templars, a few years older than her killed in an explosion and her left marked.

A prisoner with a fancy title in a pretty castle. A puppet on strings. A figure head on a leash.

Josephine gasped in horror as Evelyn reached this point. A loud 'I never…!'

Evelyn spoke of the expectations and The Game. How she said one thing while doing another. The Conscription of the mages protected them, because they were her soldiers. Watched in such a way that any remaining Templars couldn't threaten them. And how she'd left the Templars to die, she finally smiled, because she couldn't look at a Templar without feeling that ghostly touch. Even Cullen had caused the hollow feeling inside her that she'd hidden. She was a noble's daughter. She knew how to act. So she spoke to no one, it prevented rumours. No lovers, to prevent controversy.

The Game controlled her every action. The rumour that protected Dorian had stopped the demands of the commoners for his Tranquillity. They had believed he was controlling her using blood magic, a spy for Tevinter. Those same commoners, displaced by the Templar and Mage war, had also quietly called for the Mages to be controlled.

A quiet and angry whisper Leliana had controlled from the shadows, diverting their anger at Corypheus but after the Mages recruitment? Quiet words in a corridor here. Angry muttering in a Tavern there fuelled by drink there. From the casualties of the Venatori. The servants who helped clean. They saw the peace of the Tranquil and called for that to be her judgement. She was the symbol of Andraste after all and magic was meant to serve man. Magic no longer served so it had no place.

So the mages were controlled. Kept in the library area where they could be easily watched. And that stopped the abuse of power. By being watched by multiple sources, including Solas and Dorian, they couldn't be accused of attempting to betray her. Like a group had tried at least once. The Mages were defended; Dorian was protected and the rumours of a returning circle kept the people placated. No more feathers ruffled.

Vivienne was controlled by believing that she defended the circle and was advising Evelyn. That way she didn't interfere to much with the mages. She didn't attempt to start using her connections to recreate the circles. Because that would just make things the way they were and Evelyn couldn't allow that with Corypheus still running around somewhere trying to destroy the world.

She played her part, avoiding magic because magic had no place in The Game. Magic destroyed her standing and losing her standing cost her the place in the Game. The place in the Game prevented her assassination by her family to save face. It allowed her to find a fiancé when all this was over. It allowed her to continue to live when the Inquisition finally let her return home. Even if her family would no longer accept her back it meant she still had something to hope for.

And then she stopped talking, choking on her words until she finally sobbed into her hands. Because it was over. There was no longer a game or a lie or even a mask. She was just Evelyn, a disgraced mage who in an attempt to protect herself had burned every bridge until she was alone and so many lies fitted together she no longer knew who she was as she splintered.

And the inner circle was silent, watching as Cole smiled happily. "You're finally healing." He said happily, only to be shushed by Solas because healing and compassion was well and good but Cole needed to learn when silence was an option. Blackwall finally huffed when no one else spoke.

"So you lied about everything?" He seemed almost understanding as he spoke. He didn't leave his chair, the Grey Warden merely continuing. "It'll be ok lass." He sighed. Sera was next to break in, no longer being shushed by someone every time she opened her mouth.

"You're a magicy mage, but so long as you don't use your magicyness you're ok." She nodded to herself wisely. "And if anyone says otherwise about your magicyness I'll poke them with arrows! …You're still a creepy noble though." She added with a cold look that promised bees in someone's near future.

Fiona had silently stood and left the room when Evelyn finished speaking, head hung in defeat. How many mages had taken Evelyn's route? Destroying themselves to protect themselves? She'd speak to the mages; it would not be a happy discussion but secrets had done nothing to help anyone at this point. Better to hear of Evelyn's mage status from her.

In the end Josephine had walked over and hugged Evelyn, letting the girl sob into her top. There was nothing she could really say at this point. Evelyn had played The Game perfectly until it had destroyed her. It happened rarely but the ending was always a tragedy when it did.

And Cassandra had said what they'd all expected. Evelyn was no longer the Inquisitor. She was emotionally unstable and had lied about her mage status. That was the part that had damned her. She had lied about her magic making her a threat and until she could control her emotions she was open to possession.

It would be damaging to the Inquisitions image, but they had to play this safe. A healer would need to be called to talk to her and Evelyn would need guards until she was deemed safe to herself and others.

There could be no more lies and masks if this was going to work. Thankfully Evelyn appeared to have exhausted herself trying to keep the deception going and had burned herself out. This could work and Evelyn would soon have her title back.

Evelyn would always have a home in the Inquisition, she just had to realise that.


End file.
